A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or may contain material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having a bonus round wherein a player""s skill at an event or action determines or appears to determine when the player wins an award.
Gaming machines are generally games of luck, not skill. Slot machines owe certain of their popularity to the fact that a player can play a slot machine at the player""s own pace with no required skills. Most slot machines are set to pay off between 80 and 99 percent of wagers of the players. Nevertheless, players constantly try to inject skill or know-how into gaming devices with the hope of turning the odds in their favor.
For example, there is a consensus as to good and bad slot machine locations. Some players believe that, the worst slot machines for the player are the machines near the gaming tables, such as blackjack, baccarat, roulette, etc. because the players of these games do not want to be distracted by the noise and commotion created by big slot machine winners. Some players believe that, for the same reason, machines near patrons betting on sporting events and horse races are not good. Some players believe that the best machines are those that are the most visible to others so that other players, or potential players, can see big payouts. Some players believe that the machines near cafes or coffee shops are rumored to be good to encourage patrons to finish quicker and return to gaming. Some players believe that machines near change booths supposedly have higher instances of big payouts to entice people in line purchasing tokens to buy more.
Another widely held belief is that slot machines go through a pay cycle, wherein the machines will payout a number of coins to meet the programmed percentage payout after a predetermined period. Players that believe a pay cycle exists may also believe that a non-payout cycle exists, wherein the machine does not payout after a big payout or a pay cycle. The object of players subscribing to the these cycle theories is to play the machines at the right time.
However, it should be appreciated that gaming machines or slot machines are programmed or set to randomly pay back a certain percentage. There are certain known methods to maximizing gaming device payouts. One such method, for instance, is betting the maximum amount which increases the payouts.
Bonus games of slot machines can also have strategy decisions for the player to make. For example, the commercially successful TOP DOLLAR(copyright) gaming machine lets the player decide to accept an award offer or reject it in the hopes of generating a higher award offer. The game displays the potential award offers to the player and provides a limited number of chances to achieve a higher award offer. The player must therefore use strategy to pick a prudent time to keep an award offer. The player wants to maximize their award but not get stuck with a low offer. The offer that the player keeps or is left with is randomly generated which makes the outcome dependent on luck.
Even though certain other gaming machines such as video poker or blackjack also involve certain strategy and decision-making, their outcomes ultimately turn upon mathematics and probability. For instance, video draw poker requires the player to keep good cards and replace bad cards. In deciding which cards are good, the player employs strategy, e.g., keep like numbered cards, cards of a same suit or if nothing else, high cards. The hand that the player is originally dealt, and the player""s replacement cards, however, are a function of luck, not skill. Thus, while strategy affects the player""s outcome in draw poker, luck ultimately determines the outcome.
Most gaming jurisdictions do not allow games of pure skill. Some jurisdictions, however, such as the State of North Carolina require that the game involve skill. There is no doubt that skill games are fun, exciting and interactive. A need therefore exists for a gaming device that can be easily adapted between a pure skill game and a skill game that combines skill and luck or a game having perceived skill.
The present invention overcomes the above shortcomings by providing a gaming device and preferably a bonus round of a gaming device, which is a pure skill game that can easily be converted to a game having an element of skill or an appearance of skill. The present invention includes converting the pure skill game to a pseudo-skill game in several ways. The gaming device provides a pure skill game that lets the player continue to play and accrue awards until the player""s lack of skill terminates the game. In a first primary embodiment, the pure skill game converts to a pseudo-skill game by capping the amount of successful outcomes and letting the player""s skill produce each of the capped number of successful outcomes. The player""s skill thus determines the timing of the award of such outcome to the player. In a second primary embodiment, the pure skill game converts to a pseudo-skill game by only appearing to be skill-based, but instead randomly providing outcomes. The player""s skill there does not determine the outcome.
In one implementation of the first primary embodiment, the player""s skill determines when the player receives an award. In an illustration, the game presents a plurality of targets moving in a line and a gun aiming in a circular or similar pattern at the line. The player does not move the gun; rather, the game moves the gun in the circular or similar pattern, and the player estimates the time necessary for a bullet to travel to hit a bottle that will move slightly within that time period. The game provides cross hairs or a projection of the bullet onto the plane in which the bottles move, and the crosshairs follow the circular pattern of the gun. The game also randomly determines or predetermines a number of successful hits or outcomes. If the player misses the target, the game enables the player to continue until the player is successful the predetermined number of times. The player receives the same number of awards regardless of the player""s actual skill. The player""s skill instead determines the timing of when the game provides or activates one of the predetermined successful outcomes. The bonus round ends when the player exhausts all the successful outcomes.
In one implementation of the second primary embodiment, the player""s skill only appears to determine when the player is successful. In one illustration of this embodiment, the game prompts the player to choose from a plurality of targets (e.g., turkeys) and provides crosshairs that move in a pattern around the area of the target, sometimes appearing to be aiming at the target and sometimes not. The player most likely chooses a target having crosshairs that appear to be aiming at the target in an attempt to be successful. As above, the game either randomly determines or predetermines a number of successful hits or outcomes. Here, however, the game does not activate a successful outcome based upon the player""s timing or location of the crosshairs; rather, the game randomly determines when to activate a successful outcome. In this example, since the number of successful outcomes is set, the game can use the same probability each time the game determines when to activate a successful outcome.
In another implementation of the second primary embodiment, a player""s skill only appears to determine when the player is successful, but the game randomly determines the number of successful outcomes. In an illustration, the game quickly and alternatively highlights one of a plurality of different valued awards and prompts for a player input. The game appears to let the player""s skill in timing determine which award is selected, and the player most likely attempts to make the input when the game highlights the award having the highest value. The game in reality randomly determines the award to provide the player. The game preferably provides a number of iterations of the above described sequence, wherein the player can consecutively replace a lower valued award. The game enables the player to continue until the player is unsuccessful, i.e., chooses a lower valued award. Although the number of successful outcomes is not predetermined, the game maintains a maximum achievable award and also decreases the probability of success as the player advances.
Upon the occurrence of a successful outcome (e.g., a broken bottle, a shot turkey or upon selecting a higher valued award) the game preferably provides a monetary award to the player. In one embodiment, the game randomly selects an award from an award database. The game can select from the same award database upon each successful result or maintain different awards for each successful result. When a particular award is provided, the game can/cannot remove the selected award from the award database, so that the game cannot/can, respectively, randomly choose the same award again. The award database preferably contains gaming device credits or credit multipliers. Alternatively, the game can award any item of value to the player such as a number of picks from a bonus selection group.
In another embodiment, upon the occurrence of a successful outcome, the game provides a predetermined award. The predetermined award can be a value that the game adds to an award meter. Alternatively, the predetermined award can replace a prior award, such as when the player advances through consecutive choices, wherein the higher valued award replaces the lower-valued award.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pure-skill gaming device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a skill gaming device that readily converts to a game having an action or event requiring skill, wherein the skill element of the round determines when the player is successful and achieves an award.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a skill gaming device that readily converts to a gaming device having an action or event requiring skill, but wherein the skill element of the round only appears to determine whether the player is successful and achieves an award.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.